As is known in the art, resistors have been used for temperature sensing because their resistance value can change with temperature depending on their resistive material. As is also known, Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits ((MMICS) high power amplifiers (HPAs), particularly those fabricated on Gallium-Nitride semiconductor technology, have the ability to generate very large power densities. These large power densities can create thermal management problems at the system level when the amplifier is placed in a packaged environment. Having the ability to accurately sense the temperature of the HPA at the MMIC level and near the source of the heat (i.e. the transistor) is critical to managing the thermal impact of the HPA on the system performance.